Friday, November 16, 2012

Microsoft has finally released Windows 8, and is promoting its launch with a billion-dollar marketing campaign. This creates new opportunities for app developers, especially since the Windows Store isn’t yet as crowded as the Apple and Android counterparts. However, before you go ahead and start programming an app, I’d suggest you design some quick prototypes first to validate your idea. Play with different variants, show them to your peers, and adapt the designs based on the feedback you receive. Although this may seem like unwanted overhead, in the end, it will result in a better app with a better user experience. In some cases, the gathered feedback may even prevent you from investing time and money into an idea that no one really finds interesting or needed.

To help minimize the prototyping effort, I have created a set of interface templates for PowerPoint. Using these templates, you can quickly put together a Windows 8 app layout and iterate on it. All elements in the set are based upon regular PowerPoint vector shapes, and are fully editable and customizable.

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Download the Templates For Free!

The wireframing set is available as a .pptx file (for PowerPoint 2007 or newer) that you can download using the link below:

I've become a pretty big fan of sketching/wire framing/prototyping my UI's in PowerPoint. Why? It's quick, easy and everyone has it. Plus when they get it, they know it's a prototype. There's no question of it actually working. Sketch Flow could give the impression that a working app is just around the corner. Visio, not everyone has it... Oh sure, it's not perfect, but for quick and dirty designs where paper napkins are not available, it can be the next best thing...